On NPR's All Things Considered, December 11, 2008, Uwe Reinhardt, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, called the health care sector the "strongest economic locomotive working for us." He estimated that by 2015, health care will be one-fifth the size of the U.S.

Robert Pear, writing in the New York Times, reports on the personal "collateral damage" of an employer-based health care system. During a recession, the fallout multiplies.

» Read the whole story

Here's a great article by Shannon Brownlee and Ezekiel Emanuel published in the Washington Post on November 23, 2008.

Writing for Reuters, Susan Heavey declares, "Proponents of healthcare reform may have found their ally in U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, but the real campaigning has just begun."

In his talks, John Kitzhaber has spoken about the 9000 billing codes that doctors can choose among when they provide a service, decrying the lack of a code for prevention, or maintaining health or helping the patient make healthy lifestyle choices.

The opposite bookend to that comes at death.